Hill Plays the Role of Ironman for Suns
By Stefan Swiat, Suns.com
Posted: May 1, 2009 When he signed with Phoenix in the summer of 2007, all the naysayers believed that Grant Hill was washed up. Riddled with injuries the six years he played in Orlando, no man alive would’ve thought that the Suns would be inheriting their most durable performer.
Arriving in the Valley as a 35-year-old-small forward, uncertainty circulated around a player that had previously thrived by using his physical gifts and athleticism. Would be still be productive despite the accumulation of injuries that had battered his body? Would he be able to hold up over the course of a season. The answers turned out to be a definitive “yes” to both of those questions. Hill suited up for 70 games in 2007-08, the most since he played in 74 for the Pistons during the 1999-2000 season. Even then, the majority of the games he missed were because due to a fluke appendectomy. But the former Duke Blue Devil outdid that mark this past season, suiting up and playing in all 82 games for the first time in his career. A man who knows a little something about health, Suns Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Nelson, told Hill before his 82nd contest, “Whether you’re 19 or you’re 36, to play in all 82 games is pretty amazing.” Nelson was absolutely right; it’s more unique than one thinks. In fact, Hill was the only Sun to accomplish that feat this season. What impressed Nelson and anyone else who spends time around the game is that players routinely battle the flu, viruses and injuries and Hill was able to avoid those pitfalls – all at 36 years-old. But what’s even more impressive is that Hill was able to avoid those pitfalls playing at his level of intensity.
Hill, who won the Majerle Hustle Award last season, is known for spending more time polishing the floor than a janitor. He constantly take life-threatening charges, is the first to dive for loose balls and drives to the basket with the ferocity seldom seen.
Playing with that sort of reckless abandon exposes Hill to the possibility of injury more than the average player, but Hill refuses to change his style.
“There were times in ‘02 and ’03 where I didn’t know if I’d ever play again,” he said. “The main thing is that you want to be counted on you want to be a teammate and you want to be someone dependable and it was tough for me in those years not to be able to do that. Now I think people can focus on my game and what I’m doing as opposed to focusing on the health.”
But don’t be mistaken, Hill is pleased with his accomplishment. He’s just maintaining some perspective about it all.
“It’s kind of like I said before,” he remarked. “You may not be the smartest kid, but you got perfect attendance. You don’t get out of college with perfect attendance, but it looks good.”
But don’t let Hill’s easygoing attitude fool you. It took the seven-time All-Star a yeoman’s effort to get back to where he is today.
Through Hill’s 14 seasons in the NBA, he’s experienced both the peaks and valleys. After overcoming several ankle injuries, a sports hernia and a staph infection that nearly left him dead in Orlando, Hill said that those hardships caused him to become proactive and take ownership of his health.
“I don’t know that if I had been healthy if I would have tried to learn as much as I’ve learned and asked the amount of questions that I asked,” he said. “You take things for granted when things are good and when things are bad you try to get as much info as you can.”
The 6-8 forward sought out all the experts he could muster to help him find solutions to rebuild his health. However, Hill not only wanted to improve his health so he could play again, but for his overall well-being.
“I wasn’t disciplined when I was young and I think when you’re young you can get away with doing a lot of things,” he said. “You can eat bad stuff, not stretch, not ice and everything is cool. If there is any sort of silver lining out of all of my injuries it’s that it forced me to go seek answers.”
So Hill began to create the habits that allowed him to become the Suns’ most durable player this season. He changed his diet, he consulted nutritionists, worked closely with the training staff and performed the necessary maintenance on his body that he needed when he was away from the arena.
This season, Hill’s recipe for success included visiting chiropractors, massages therapists, eating healthy meals cooked with specific ingredients, stretching, performing exercises for structural integration, icing after games, sitting in whirlpool baths and receiving extra work in the training room. For his efforts, Hill averaged 12 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals on 52 percent field goal shooting this season.
“The way I looked at it while I was going through the injuries was that I’d make up for it on the back end,” he said. “It’s something to say to get you through those times, but there has been less wear and tear on the body. But I work hard taking care of myself and I try to be one of the first ones in here doing all of the maintenance work, eating right and just doing all types of crazy stuff when I’m home to keep that edge and be able to recover.”
There was no denying that all of the extra work paid off. Hill possessed a certain bounce in his game this season that was exemplified by some jaw-dropping dunks that fans haven’t seen from him in years. Also, he was the Suns’ most active and reliable defender.
“I want to be active when I’m 50,” he said. “I want to be in shape when I reach old age. I think it’s all about habits that you set and breaking those bad habits.”
When Hill first arrived in Phoenix, he expected to play two years and then ride off into the sunset. But seeing his work pay off and going by how he feels, he thinks he has some more gas left in the tank.
“I can still get up and down the court with anybody and I still feel I have a pretty quick step,” Hill said. “I can get by people and for the most part I can stay in front of guys in my position.”
However, Hill knows that his role has shifted from being the “man” earlier in his career to being more of a role player in the latter part of his career. Self-admittedly, the former co-Rookie of the Year has learned to become a craftier player that will play without the ball, cut back door, outsmart the opponent and do all the little intangible tasks he wasn’t accustomed to doing as a star player in the past.
But Hill knows he can still shine.
“I’m going to continue to work this summer because you have to work a little harder to stay on top of things,” he said. “My game, like Steve, is about speed and quickness and the big fella (Shaquille O’Neal)is more about power, strength and size. When you get a little older you have to work a little harder at it, but I definitely had good results this year and I still feel like I can do it for a few more years.”
The only two-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award, Hill hopes that his two seasons here have silenced the naysayers and that the focus can be taken off his health and put back on the quality of his game.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get passed that (health questions) – but I know for me – I’m able to focus on strategy, defending and what I need to do to go out there and help our team as opposed to how I’ll feel when I wake up tomorrow morning,” he said. “I’ve certainly moved passed it and hopefully this year by playing all 82 games, we can all put this behind us.”
Any questions or comments for Suns.com’s Stefan Swiat? Click here to send him your comments by e-mail.
